People have asked me why weíre not more emotional,Ē Matheny said in his office after Sundayís game. ďThey say that we look subdued, always intense. That our actions are methodical, robotic at times. Thatís what got us here. This isnít the time to change it.Ē

Itís hard to argue with the managerís assessment. The Cardinals finished with 97 victories, most by a Cards team since 2005, and tied with Boston for No. 1 in the majors this year.

Their 54-27 showing at Busch Stadium matches the 1985 team for the best single-season home winning percentage (.667) by the Cardinals since 1944.

A postseason theme has emerged, and it echoes the mantra that surfaced before the start of 2013: remember the fall of 2012. Remember falling to San Francisco in the NLCS.

The Cardinalsí veterans still havenít forgotten. They still arenít over it. Itís why Matheny resists GM John Mozeliakís urgings to smile and put on a happier face.

Here's the most impressive aspect of the Cardinals' division championship: they prevailed over two other outstanding teams, Pittsburgh and Cincinnati.

The 97-win Cardinals were better this year (regular season) than they were in 2011, when they won 90 games, and 2012, when they won 88.
Here are a few numbers that help put the Cardinals' Central title and No. 1 NL seed in perspective:

* Since MLB switched to a three-division format in each league in 1994, this was only the sixth time that a division had three 90-plus win teams. St. Louis won 97, Pittsburgh 94, and Cincinnati 90.
* Since the format change, this was only the second time that an NL division had three 90-win teams. In 2002 the NL West had Arizona (98 wins), San Francisco (95) and Los Angeles (92).
* The 2013 Cardinals faced more esteemed and difficult competition at the top of the division than any of the division-winning teams managed by Tony La Russa.

The Pirates were hardly pushovers; the Cardinals had to work like mad and kick in with a strong finish to put the division away, and didn't clinch until Game No. 160.

The Cardinals went 9-10 against Pittsburgh this season and were 11-8 vs. Cincinnati.

The Cardinals won only three of 10 games at PNC Park in Pittsburgh and split the 10 games at Cincinnati. The Cardinals were 6-3 against both teams at Busch Stadium.

The Cardinals (1st), Pirates (3rd) and Reds (5th) ranked among the top five in wins in the NL. The three teams were among the top 11 in wins in MLB. All three teams finished in the top five in the majors for best overall ERA, and each were in the top five MLB for best starting-pitching ERA.

The original purpose to this piece was to point out that the Cardinals managed to finish with the league's best record while competing in a division that had three 90-win teams for only the second time in the last 19 years of National League baseball.

Jeff Luhnow built our farm system and he's gone now. Luhnow would've never made the Ramsey pick.

I do think Luhnow deserves a shit load of credit for rebuilding the farm system, but at the same time, I do think Mo deserves credit too but not to the extent of Luhnow. Luhnow pretty much built it up from the ground while Mo is trying to maintain a good system.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

If he can play credible defense, it's Greg Garcia.

But that's a big if.

Probably so, but Jackson seems to have an above average glove and average bat. Garcia has an above average bat, and hopefully average defense.

Mo has failed to properly address the middle infield with a young prospect aside from Wong. The Cardinals best ****ing SS prospect is probably Ryan ****ing Jackson.

Every baseball team has holes.

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Some on here need some perspective. Remember Haley/Crennel/Gunther/Herm etc. it can get a lot worse.

The NFL hired 2 of Reid's OCís to be head coaches in the last 3 years. One is already in the Super Bowl this year with Foles as his QB. If any NFL team needs a coach and Reid is available, they will hire him over any person on the face of the earth, except for Bellicheck.

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Some on here need some perspective. Remember Haley/Crennel/Gunther/Herm etc. it can get a lot worse.

The NFL hired 2 of Reid's OCís to be head coaches in the last 3 years. One is already in the Super Bowl this year with Foles as his QB. If any NFL team needs a coach and Reid is available, they will hire him over any person on the face of the earth, except for Bellicheck.

I do think Luhnow deserves a shit load of credit for rebuilding the farm system, but at the same time, I do think Mo deserves credit too but not to the extent of Luhnow. Luhnow pretty much built it up from the ground while Mo is trying to maintain a good system.

Probably so, but Jackson seems to have an above average glove and average bat. Garcia has an above average bat, and hopefully average defense.

Jackson has a noodle bat. He hit well at Springfield but everyone hits well at Hammond. At AAA, guys were taking the bat out of his hand. His bat looks a lot like Kozmas but with even less power. I don't see him ever being able to hit enough to be a regular.

If he's Brendan Ryan with the leather, you could up with it. Ryan Jackson isn't Brendan Ryan with the leather.

Garcia at least has a couple of projectable tools, namely his walk rate and bat control. That leads me to believe he can actually play at the next level.

Instead we drafted a superfluous part with an extremely low ceiling and gave him a contract that was significantly better than his performance, tools or leverage warranted.

Every team had holes and can't fill them all.

We have to focus on starting pitching. We have absolutely zero chance to compete with the BILLION TV contracts without young quality starting pitching. It balances the $25 million a year hitters and allows us to pursue other FA's or pay our own guys. Instead of buying the most expensive position in baseball, top level pitching.

As far as Ludhow building the #1 farm system by himself and no one else helped...... Last years draft......you are bitching about the Ramsey pick but other baseball gurus praised the move. Allowing them to sign picks in the later rounds with tremendous upside....... and also what about Wachau? He was picked by Mo, flew up the system in a single year. will compete for a spot on the team after a single year in the minors.

__________________
Some on here need some perspective. Remember Haley/Crennel/Gunther/Herm etc. it can get a lot worse.

The NFL hired 2 of Reid's OCís to be head coaches in the last 3 years. One is already in the Super Bowl this year with Foles as his QB. If any NFL team needs a coach and Reid is available, they will hire him over any person on the face of the earth, except for Bellicheck.

__________________
Some on here need some perspective. Remember Haley/Crennel/Gunther/Herm etc. it can get a lot worse.

The NFL hired 2 of Reid's OCís to be head coaches in the last 3 years. One is already in the Super Bowl this year with Foles as his QB. If any NFL team needs a coach and Reid is available, they will hire him over any person on the face of the earth, except for Bellicheck.

Ideally you want to wait a few months for Taveras to come up because then you get another year on his clock due to the weird way the arb system works.

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"When the Know-Nothings get control, it will read 'all men are created equal, except negroes, and foreigners, and Catholics.' When it comes to this I should prefer emigrating to some country where they make no pretense of loving liberty Ė to Russia, for instance, where despotism can be taken pure, and without the base alloy of hypocrisy.Ē--Abraham Lincoln

Ideally you want to wait a few months for Taveras to come up because then you get another year on his clock due to the weird way the arb system works.

that was the general consensus that the Cards didn't want the 6 year clock to start ticking until he was really ready for prime time to get the most bang for their 6 year buck. They would hold him back until this year didn't count because if he pans out as prediction, he will be making $25+ million a year in year 7 of big show service.

When can you bring up players and not count as a year of service, you know?

__________________
Some on here need some perspective. Remember Haley/Crennel/Gunther/Herm etc. it can get a lot worse.

The NFL hired 2 of Reid's OCís to be head coaches in the last 3 years. One is already in the Super Bowl this year with Foles as his QB. If any NFL team needs a coach and Reid is available, they will hire him over any person on the face of the earth, except for Bellicheck.